A Matter of Magic: Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward (1991/1997) Patricia C. Wrede This is a reissue of two lovely YA novels, Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward. Kim is a thief in London, who hopes that this job will help her get off the streets for good–before those around her discover […]

The Sword Dancer (2013) Jeannie Lin Set in Tang Dynasty China — AD 848 Thief-catcher Han is searching for jewel thieves. Li Feng was involved in the heist, but not for the reasons the others in her group were, so she left the group but still fell afoul of Han. This was a book I […]

Raven Cursed Audible version (2012/2012) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I am really enjoying listening to this series–perhaps more than I was expecting to. I’ve found that when I listen to a book, I tend to hear things I missed when reading, especially when it comes to action scenes, where I’m speed reading through […]

Sympathy for the Devil (2011) Justin Gustainis I came to this series because I very much enjoy his Occult Crimes Unit Investigations (despite the horrific covers), so I’ve been slowly working my way through his Quincy Morris series. Slowly, because I just don’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as the other series. I started […]

Kitty Takes a Holiday Audible Version (2007/2009) Carrie Vaughn narrated by Marguerite Gavin This is the third Kitty book, and finds Kitty out in the woods, attempting to recover from the events of the previous book (where she was exposed to the world as a werewolf). I’ve listened to the Kitty books while I’ve been […]

Monstrous Regiment (2003) Terry Pratchett For some reason I got Monstrous Regiment stuck in my head and just had to re-read it. Like most of his books, it’s a keen political satire (“armies don’t do much for agriculture except marginally raise the fertility of the battlefield.”) wrapped in a marvelous story. Polly Perks, resident of […]

Fairest Vol. 5: The Clamour for Glamour And now, the final volume of Fairest. Like the previous volumes, this timeline is simultaneous with that of Fables, so although there aren’t any spoilers in either direction, you kind of need to know what was happening in Fables to completely understand everything here. That said, there was […]

Fables Vol. 22: Farewell (2015) This one has only been sitting on my coffee table for a month, waiting for a day when I could read through the last two volumes in one sitting. I think it’ll take me awhile–and probably a re-read of the entire series–to decide how I feel about these last two […]

Fables Vol. 21: Happily Ever After (2015) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and Andrew Pepoy This is the penultimate Fables volume, and it’s been sitting on my coffee table since May (release date) waiting to be read. It’s for the best that I put off reading it until the final volume also arrived, as […]

Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, Elmo Bondoc The third volume of Ms. Marvel finds Kamala Khan still struggling with her identity as an Inhuman, but also with keeping the secret from her family. There are a lot of amusing jokes for older readers here–references to many general pop-culture geek […]

The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) Guy Gavriel Kay This is fantasy, but it parallels the history of the Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Middle ages. But the parallels aren’t complete, as women aren’t nearly as subjugated as they would have been in Europe at the time. Jehane is a Kindath physician, and in high […]

Moon Called Audible Version (2006/2009) Patricia Briggs narrated by Lorelei King The first time I tried to listen to this was immediately after finishing a Rivers of London audio book. There was just no way anyone can compare to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, so I just couldn’t get into it. So, I started it again after when […]

Mercy Blade, Audible Version (2011/2011) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam For the first time in her life, Jane Yellowrock has a semi-stable job and a stable boyfriend. Until they return back to New Orleans, and discover that the vampire council is meeting with the just-now-out-of-the-closet African weres, and that were-wolves actually exist and are […]

Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jacob Wyatt Volume 2 of Ms. Marvel finds Kamala still trying to come to terms with her powers, and still trying to hide her secret from her family and friends. The later gets her a talk with Sheikh Abdullah, because her parents […]

Kitty Goes to Washington audible version (2006/2009) Carrie Vaughn narrated by Marguerite Gavin I have the final Kitty book waiting for me to read, so I’ve been working my way back through the series in audio. (This is the second book.) This book finds Kitty called to Washington to testify about the supernatural before a […]

Half-Resurrection Blues (2015) Daniel José Older It is well-known by anyone who has more than a passing acquaintance with me that I do not like zombies. I f’ing HATE zombies. So I was quite hesitant about this book, because the main character is half-dead / half-alive, which, to me, sounds like a zombie. Carlos Delacruz […]

Wickedly Dangerous (2014) Deborah Blake It’s no secret that I love folk and fairy tales, and since I first read about her hut on chicken legs, I have loved Baba Yaga. She’s a witch who is sometimes wicked, but sometimes not. Nobody insulted her house. Not even in the old days when it was a […]

The Girl of Hrusch Avenue (2013) Brian McClellan This is a Powder Mage Short Story, and I’m not quite sure where I picked it up. Vlora is an orphan, fascinated by the muskets and rifles and pistols of the gunsmiths, and is enthralled by the smell and smoke of black powder. But Vlora is living […]

The Very Best of Charles de Lint (2010) Charles de Lint In Which We Meet Jilly Coppercorn Coyote Stories Laughter in the Leaves The Badger in the Bag And the Rafters Were Ringing Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood The Stone Drum Timeskip Freewheeling A Wish Named Arnold Into the Green The Graceless Child Winter […]

Spellbinder (2015) C.C. Hunter This is a Shadow Falls novella, and gives us some of Miranda Kane’s story. Plus Della and Kylie. “…And then she fell to her knees like in that epic movie, Gone to the Breeze, I think that was the name of it, where the heroine yells out, ‘I shall never go […]

Unbreakable (2014) C.C. Hunter Chase Tallman appeared in the Shadow Falls series, and although we know he’s in love with Della, we don’t know much else about him. This story gives us a glimpse into his life–when he was first changed, and how it happened. First, I do enjoy how CC Hunter writes teens. Chase […]

Magic Lost, Trouble Found (2007) Lisa Shearin I came across Lisa Shearin through her SPI files, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So I decided I should probably look into checking out her Raine Benares. I then read a short story set in this world that was a prequel to the first book. It also was interesting, […]

Fiction River: Hex in the City (2013) edited by Kerrie L. Hughes “King of the Kingless” by Jay Lake “Speechless in Seattle” by Lisa Sliverthorne “Thy Neighbor” by Nancy Holder “Somebody Else’s Problem” by Annie Bellet “A Thing Immortal as Itself” by Lee Allred “Geriatric Magic” by Stephanie Writt “Red as Snow” by Seanan McGuire […]

Vampires: The Recent Undead (2011) edited by Paula Guran “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” by Holly Black “This Is Now” by Michael Marshall Smith “Sisters” by Charles de Lint “The Screaming” by J.A. Konrath “Zen and the Art of Vampirism” by Kelley Armstrong “La Vampiresse” by Tanith Lee “Dead Man Stalking” by Rachel Caine “The […]

Werewolf Smackdown (2010) Mario Acevedo I’m a sucker for supernatural detectives (See: Simon Green & P.N. Elrod) so I snatched up the first Felix Gomez books when I came across them, then I seem to have forgotten about them, so when I had the chance to pick up Werewolf Smackdown on sale, I grabbed it. […]

Pocket Apocalypse (2015) Seanan McGuire The 4th InCryptid book. Alexander Price is a cryptozoologist–he studies and protects the unique and sometimes magical species that inhabit our world with us–species that are often sentient and can even mimic humans. Alex accompanies his girlfriend Shelby back home to Australia where her family is dealing with an outbreak […]

Salsa Nocturna (2012) Daniel José Older This is a collection of intertwined short stories. It doesn’t seem quite so at the beginning, but they are are all more than just set in the same world. The characters are ghosts and ghost hunters and those who can see the dead, and with each story you learn […]

Low Midnight (2014) Carrie Vaughn This is book 13 in the Kitty the Werewolf series, but Kitty is NOT the main character. This is Cormac’s book… well, Cormac and Amelia, the ghost who lives in Cormac’s head. I’ll be honest, I didn’t much care for the previous Kitty book, Kitty in the Underworld, but it […]

Child of a Rainless Year (2005) Jane Lindskold I recently picked this up as an ebook, when I found it on sale. I’d read it before and thoroughly enjoyed it, so was pleased to be able to get it electronically. This is urban fantasy, which means it does not have any supernatural creatures. It has […]

Halfway to the Grave, Audible Version (2007/2010) by Jeaniene Frost narrated by Tavia Gilbert I’ve enjoyed this series (although I am still sitting on the final book, waiting for the right time to read it) and I very much enjoyed the audible version. Tavia Gilbert is very good with the narration and giving different characters […]

Foxglove Summer Audible Version (2015/2015) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith OMG I LOVE KOBNA HOLDBROOK-SMITH SO MUCH! (SWOON) ahem. I love this series, but I love Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s narration EVEN MORE. Peter Grant is somewhat despondent about the events that occurred at the end of the last book (not that he’ll admit it) so […]

A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark (2014) Harry Connolly I saw a post/comment by the author, talking about the lack of older women in supernatural fantasy, and how since he couldn’t find any such books, he’d have to write one himself. I immediately snatched it up and tweeted about it, because regardless as to […]

Dead Men’s Boots (2007) Mike Carey The last book ended with Castor being booted out of his living quarters by Pen, and the Stranger giving him 30 days to find somewhere else for Rafi, or they were sending him to Jenna-Jane Mulbridge–a fate even worse that his current miserable situation, timesharing his body with the […]

Vicious Circle (2006) Mike Carey Felix Castor can’t stay out of trouble. He’s taking some consulting work for the police, to bring in some money, but when parents as him to find their daughter–who is a ghost–Felix gets in bigger trouble than even he expected. There’s just something about the writing in these books. Felix […]

Dead Heat (2015) Patricia Briggs This is the fourth Alpha & Omega series, the story of Charles and Anna. Charles is the enforcer for all the werewolves in North America, and Anna is his wife–a werewolf herself who he rescued from a pack gone bad. If you have not read the previous books in the […]

The Devil You Know (2008) Mike Carey Felix Castor is an exorcist, a job that has been quite in demand since the dead starting coming back in the late 90s. (T)he Bible is strangely coy on the subject of the were-kind, hedges its bets on demons, and draws a big fat blank on ghosts, so […]

London Falling, Audio Book (2014) Paul Cornell narrated by Damian Lynch (The Shadow Police) I really liked the audible version of London Falling. Detective Inspector James Quill is heading the investigation (which includes undercover officers Costain and Sefton) to take down crime lord Rob Toshack. Intelligence analyst Lisa Ross has personal reasons for wanting Toshack […]

Girl Genius Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City (2014) Phil & Kaja Foglio Needs more Jagers. Rating: 7/10 Published by Studio Foglio

Girl Genius Volume 12: Siege of Mechanicsburg (2013) Phil & Kaja Foglio The problem with Girl Genius is that it’s been running so long I forget much of what has happened previously. And the fact that I’ve had this volume for about a year before getting around to reading it doesn’t help. This doesn’t mean […]

Tales from the Nightside (2015) Simon R. Green The Nightside. “Where all your dreams can come true, especially the really bad ones. This is a collection of Nightside stories, many of which I have read before, and a previously unpublished novella. If you’re a Nightside fan, then you’ll want this. If you’re not sure if […]

Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal (2014) G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphonsa Marvelous! This is a lot of fun, and had me giggling multiple times! Kamala Khan is your average 16-year-old Muslim girl living in New Jersey–which means there is nothing average about her. She wants all the things she can’t have–or isn’t allowed to […]

Legion: Skin Deep (2014) Brandon Sanderson This is the second story about Stephen Leeds, and it’s just as delightful as the first. Stephen is insane, but in an extremely useful way. He is a genius, and to use his genius he manifests different aspects who are experts on whatever he is researching. But he is […]

Bound by Flames (2015) Jeaniene Frost This is the third book in the Night Prince series, Jeaniene Frost’s take on Vlad Dracul and Leila, the woman he came to love–against his better judgment and almost against his will. First, let’s make this clear–this book is NOT for the faint of heart. Truly, this series isn’t, […]

Wild Card (2014) Lisa Shearin This short story is an introduction to Lisa Shearin’s Raine Benares series. I fully admit that despite being elves and goblins and not set in this world, I like it. Probably because it was a PI story, so the world building gets to take second place to the mystery. But […]

Cursed Moon (2014) Jaye Wells Book 2 in Prospero’s War finds Kate Prospero and the MEA (as well as the BPD) trying to keep calm in a city in a magical uproar for the coming Blue Moon. She is also struggling with her guilt over the events in the previous book, and her worry about […]

Charming (2013) Elliott James I almost gave up on this. I read the short stories and enjoyed them, but a third of the way in, the story still wasn’t doing it for me. Again, it was wanting a sense of accomplishment and a curiosity as to how things turned out that kept me reading, and […]

The Dragon Conspiracy (2015) Lisa Shearin This is the second book of the SPI files, and a fun romp. But is also has a few things that are quite different from other books in this genre. Such as this: Starting a romantic relationship with Ian and having it go bad would make our time at […]

Owl and the Japanese Circus (2015) Kristi Charish This wasn’t a throw-across-the-room bad book, but also wasn’t good. Owl is a former archaeology grad student who was manipulated and forced out of her program. She is also selfish and irritating and self-absorbed. Her only good quality is her cat, who senses and attacks vampires, but […]

Seeress of Kell (1991) David Eddings The conclusion of the Mallorean is a lovely wrap-up, but that also makes it somewhat frustrating. All the ‘i’s are dotted and ‘t’s crossed and everyone who wasn’t already married and in love ends up so by the end of the book. That’s not to mean there aren’t lots […]

Sorceress of Darshiva (1989) David Eddings This isn’t particularly one of my favorite of his book, but there are still fun parts, such as their meeting with Senji. After about three hundred years of argumentation, it suddenly occurred to the disputants that Senji was not merely talented, but also appeared to be immortal. In the […]